Stop Motion Movie With Dough

I have wondered a long time ago, how hard it could be to make some of my own animations using dough.

On sunday, we had really bad weather, and the kids wanted to play something new. I thought we could at least try it.

So using the smartphone you can easily put a few pictures together and make a movie.

Step 1: Prepare the Set

So first of all you need a smartphone stand which doesn't move at all.

I didn't have a usefull stand, so I built one myself from cardboard and some tape. The smartphone has to fit perfectly and slightly inclined towards the table.

I didn't prepare anything for the background, since it was our first try, but a nice set includes a nicely painted background. Or at leas some colored cardboard (i.e. with white paper clouds on it, etc.)

Out of dough you can start to make the objects and characters for your movie. Start off with simple characters and simple objects, which can be used for simple animations.

Then you want to install some software on your smartphone to help you with creating the movie. There are a lot of them in the market. I only tried a couple of them since the patience of my kids is limited ;-) but this is what I used:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com....

If you find a better one, which is easier to use, please post a message. For me I found out the best app is the one which lets me take pictures the fastest, and doesn't need tons of configuring, since my hands are full of dought and I might want to quickly reset the project, etc...

Step 2: Scripting, Shooting and Generate the Video

You should know from the beginning exactly what will happen in your scene. Start with simple stuff like "this goes there and climbs that", and then you can move forward towards Hollywood-level scripting.

OK, now after shouting "Action!!" (is optional but improves morale ;-) ) you start making your movie.

For every frame of the picture, move the characters very slowly. Then take a picture. Then move it again, and take another picture. After a while you will do that really fast and make a short video like theese in a couple of minutes.

Of course this instructables is only for those who want to try it out for fun with the kids.

More experienced animators will for sure find this a bit amusing ;-)

If you try it out and have some improvement ideas, I am very interested. Leave a coment.

Have fun,

FF